Murray

Murray: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“settlement by the sea”
Origin
Scottish Gaelic
Say it
MUR-ee · 2 syllables
Used for
Boys (98% of all uses)

Murray is an Anglicized Scottish surname and given name from the region name Moray. The place-name is often explained from Gaelic elements referring to a sea settlement.

How popular is Murray?

202418.0 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Murray in 202460

2024 rank#2,705 boys

Peak year1922

Total US babies since 188022,242

Murray is rising: use over the last five years is 1.9× what it was a decade earlier.

Names like Murray

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Loganlittle hollow · Scottish Gaelic
  • Cameroncrooked nose · Scottish Gaelic
  • IanGod is gracious · Scottish Gaelic
  • Carsonson of Carr · Scottish Gaelic
  • Callumdove · Scottish Gaelic
  • MaxwellMack's stream · Scottish Gaelic
  • Dallasmeadow dwelling · Scottish Gaelic
  • Kennethborn of fire · Scottish Gaelic

Murray questions

What does the name Murray mean?

Murray means "settlement by the sea". It comes from Scottish Gaelic. Murray is an Anglicized Scottish surname and given name from the region name Moray. The place-name is often explained from Gaelic elements referring to a sea settlement.

Is Murray a boy or girl name?

Murray is mainly a boy's name in US records (98% of uses since 1880).

How popular is Murray?

60 US babies were named Murray in 2024. Its peak year was 1922.

How do you pronounce Murray?

Murray is usually pronounced MUR-ee.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.